Introduction

This resource supports Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) teachers to source tasks that address the data from the Mathematics Online Interview (MOI). These tasks are designed to be used in the classroom, either as whole-class tasks or to a targeted group for a lesson.

This resource is organised into domains and growth points. For each domain you will find a suggested (but not limited to) range of suitable tasks for students at each growth point. You may find that some tasks appear across several levels and/or domains. This is because these tasks address a number of aspects of conceptual understanding within the progression of level. Teachers may also choose to modify and adapt a task so that it addresses a variety of growth points within one domain, to address the range of data in their class. This resource is designed as a starting point for instruction. Teachers are encouraged to use these activities together with tasks from other resources in their instruction.

In conjunction with using this book, it is also suggested that teachers reflect on the mathematics that they want students to notice while working on these tasks. Each task has suggested key ideas (sourced from Key Ideas for Conceptual Development in Mathematics, Second Edition (2021b)), which can be used to help teachers to determine a clear mathematics focus to support conceptual understanding for students.

Overview of the growth point domains

The growth point framework allows for the description of the mathematical knowledge and understanding of individuals and groups of students. Growth points describe key stages in the learning of nine mathematics domains and they can be thought of as key stepping stones along paths to mathematical understanding. The growth points are clearly written and developmentally appropriate, and they provide readily interpreted goals for describing student learning. Each section or domain of the MOI has a set of up to seven growth points describing an increasingly complex level of mathematical understanding, which can be assessed using the MOI.

Growth point reports and student responses provide teachers with powerful information to use when planning to meet student learning needs. Students’ movement through growth points provides a measure of growth in their knowledge, skills and understanding over time. In particular, the data obtained can be used to provide a picture of the spread of growth points achieved by students for each mathematics domain across a class or school. Growth points enable teachers to identify:

  • the zone of proximal development for each child in each domain so instruction may be differentiated

  • the diversity of mathematical knowledge in a class, year level or school group

  • the students who may benefit from additional assistance

  • any improvement where it exists.